


its only the very first day

by roseswithwine



Series: the time in between [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Post S3, mike misses el, mileven is clingy, once again idk how to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:02:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29642748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseswithwine/pseuds/roseswithwine
Summary: its the first day after El and the Byers' had left Hawkins, and all Mike can think about is the phone call he will get once she arrives at her new home.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler
Series: the time in between [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178168
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	its only the very first day

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this is going to be the starting story for a new series. im calling it "the time in between", and it will be a collection of one shots taking place through the months after the byers and el moved out of Hawkins, and mostly how mike is dealing with el being gone again.
> 
> i hope you enjoy this one, and all of them. a few people seemed to enjoy the last thing i posted which inspired me to finally post this. its been written for a while, just sitting in my drive.
> 
> anyway, hope you like it!

Waking up this day in mid-October felt like a chore for Mike. He didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night, after the events of the previous day and watching a Uhaul truck slowly drive away with the person he loved most in tow, he didn't want to admit that he spent the rest of that evening crying in his room. After all they went through this summer _and_ the years prior, why would they take her away from him? Mike knows the reason (it's a pretty good reason, he'd probably want to leave too), but he wonders why the universe would separate them again.

_You won't lose me.  
Do you promise?  
Promise._

He knew it was out of her control. She didn’t have much of a say. Where would she even stay if it wasn’t with the Byers’? A fort in his basement? _It isn't her fault._

The Byers’ took El in immediately. Most of them slept over there the night after everything. They couldn't just go home and pretend everything was okay after that. So, all exhausted, everyone piled inside the small house and tried their best to put it to the back of their minds, at least for that night. 

Mike sits up in his bed and an immediate feeling of ache explodes in his head. It feels like he was hit with that same Uhaul he watched drive away yesterday. 

He has felt like this before, it pops a memory into his head of the morning waking up after the first attack, you could say. _The first time he lost her._

Sitting up and wanting all these feelings to fall out of his feet, he gets up and groggily makes his way over to the bathroom to splash some water on his face.

Surprisingly, he didn't look as bad as he thought he would. His eyes were a little puffy, he looked a bit tired. There was a remnant of a tear track that went over his nose from laying down. But that was about it. He splashed some water on his face to make him feel more alive, and then headed downstairs.

His family was already downstairs, making breakfast and getting ready for the day. He spotted Nancy sitting at the kitchen table eating a piece of toast and looking at a magazine. As he sat down across from her and took a look at her face, he could tell she probably spent yesterday evening the same as him, but was hiding it well.

“Good morning Mike,” his mom said.

“Morning” he replied, not in the mood to have a conversation.

His mom placed a plate of food in front of him and he thanked her before grabbing a fork and starting to eat. After his mother had walked away, he saw Nancy raise her head out of the corner of his eye. She looked over at him with a pitiful look in her eyes, and gave him a weak smile. He knew what she wanted to ask, so he shrugged his shoulders lightly and gave a little smile back before looking back down and his eggs.

The rest of the morning went by in a blur. He remembers helping his mom clean up after breakfast, Holly asking him to help her with homework, and then hiding himself back in his room. 

At around 10:30, he heard his mom calling him from downstairs saying the phone was for him. And since he barely ever got phone calls, he figured it could only be one person.

Sprinting down the stairs and then attempting to look as calm as he could when he approached his mother, he took the phone and gave a very out-of-breath “Hello?” _Please be her._

“Mike! Hey!” A voice came through. His shoulders fell. 

“Hey Dustin. Whats up?”

“Lucas and Max are already here and we wanted to see if you wanted to go to the arcade.” Mike sighed, but he also had nothing else to do and knew it’d still be a few hours before El would be able to call. “Sure. When?”

And that is how half an hour later Mike pulled his bike into the parking lot of the arcade, seeing (most of) his friends leaning against the wall beside the bike rack.

“Hey guys.” Mike said, slightly out of breath from the fast ride over.

A collective “hey” sounded throughout the others and they made their way inside the arcade. First, Dustin and Max decided to see who could get the highest score on Digdug. Mike and Lucas stood on opposite sides of the machine watching the games, cheering them on as they took turns playing until they died.

After a couple hours at the arcade, messing around and trying to beat top scores (like always), they decided to ride over to the nearby gas station to get some snacks, and made their way back to Mike's house to hang out in the basement.

Everyone was slightly off. They tried to ignore it, to push it down, but some of it seeped through their skin. They were missing two of their own, it didn't quite feel the same.

“How long was it supposed to be before they got there?” Lucas asked, looking at Mike.

“She said she didn't know exactly but would call as soon as they got inside the house.”

 _Hopefully soon,_ Mike thought to himself.

They ended up crowded around the little tv as they watched a movie Mike had on VHS. About half way through, the phone rang.

Mike launched from where he was sitting “I’ll get it!” he yelled to his mother upstairs and ran towards the landline.

He picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hi, Mike.” He could hear her smile through the phone. _Finally._

“Hi, El.” Mike said, smiling so wide. He lets out a breath. (It's been less than 2 days and this is how he's reacting? This is going to be a long _who knows how many_ months.)

From across the room, Mike could hear the others scrambling and whispering. _“Give him time”_ he heard Lucas say, probably to Max. She was antsy to speak to El too

“How was the drive?” he asked.

“Long.” El replied simply.

“We drove for so long. We stopped once at a gas station. Then straight to the hotel. But I liked watching the trees.” The end put a smile on his face.

“Thats nice.” 

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing much. Lucas, Max and Dustin are here. We were watching a movie.”

“Oh, fun.” she sounded a bit sad, _left out,_ maybe.

“Yeah, i guess. We’re pretty bored without you guys though.”

“I miss you.” She said

“I miss you too.” Mike replied sadly.

“Well, Thanksgiving is next month.”

“Next month is far away.”

“Hopefully it will come fast. How do you like the new town?”

“It’s nice. We had to drive through downtown to get to the house. It looks nice.” she said. “Joyce said later we’ll get dinner out later, so we get to see a little bit of town.”

“That's good, hopefully you like it.”

“Hopefully i'll like it.”

“And when i come for Thanksgiving, you can show me around.” 

El smiles. “Yeah, okay.”

* * *

After a couple more minutes of normal conversation, they get interrupted.

“Okay, okay, times up!” Max runs from the couch and yanks the phone out of his hand.

“Hey!” he yelled.

“I held her back as long as I could,” Lucas said, shrugging his shoulders. “She was literally bouncing.”

From the other side of the phone you could hear El’s faint laugh as she listened to what was going on on the other side.

“El! Hi!” Max cheered, and got lost in asking her tons of questions. 

After a couple minutes, Dustin took the phone from Max, which resulted in her slapping him in the arm and an exaggerated “Ow!” from Dustin. Then, Lucas got his turn on the phone before El and Will (who had later joined the call) had to go and help unpack. Everyone said their goodbyes before hanging up the phone. 

Later, once everyone left and Mike was back to being alone in his room, his mood returned to the sad-mopeyness he woke up to. And even though it had only been barely two days, he missed her greatly. _I want you to come home._

He knew it'd be a while before he could visit. They just left yesterday. But Mike didn't care, he told himself he was allowed to be upset after all that has happened, which he was. So, for now, as he counted down the days, the seconds, _the heartbeats,_ until he could hold her again, he allowed himself to wallow in his sadness.

 _It's only the very first day,_ he thought, drifting off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know your thoughts and what i can do to improve! kudos and comments are very appreciated


End file.
